Shortly before 12:00 p.m. it was time to
come home. The globetrotters were exact on time. The press, families, friends
and others appeared numerously. It
is over…

06.09.2004

The live ticker from 80th day…

There is no daily report today, but a life
ticker via cell phone. Events from the boys arriving in Europe to the surprise
from O.F: in Eisenach…

05.09.2004

Attention boys, the “bettor
against” is on his way!!!

The “pickup command” left Jena
today. It was supposed to be Uwje’s job. But he had to go on working
on the website, so Holgi took the van and went on his way! After all he
was the “bettor against”!!! So that nothing goes wrong he is
accompanied by “the
old sax”…

04.09.2004

Eye care???

Yesterday we saw how the boys go through
their days. Today we only got the coordinates. We probably would have seen
many creatures today, but the boys took care of their eyes…

03.09.2004

“Big Brother“ in
a container from Cologne…

…is the dumbest invention of our media,
which is all in all not very intelligent. The newest idea: Lock the crew
and the passengers on a container ship, without women! What
will happen???

02.09.2004

What a bummer: A cock is stuck!

There was no chance to enjoy the varied view
today. A stuck cock keeps the ship from going. The repair of the cock lasted
twelve hours. If O.F. had his part to it is not known…

01.09.2004

Wow:
The boys leave the gym!!!

After their daily exercise, the boys left
the gym for today. They went hiking! On the ship!!! From that trip they
even sent new
pictures…

31.08.2004

The fourth
day at sea

Today, the legendary daily report from Bernd
did only consist of the coordinates of the ship. Obviously the day on board
wasn’t too thrilling. Although they haven’t even gotten through
half the time on
the Atlantic…

30.08.2004

Dwarf’s Sports Studio
or the Thong Show?

Sensational, today we even got pictures from
the Independent Action. They were sent from the ship via satellite. But
it is unclear if we see the Dwarf’s Sports Studio or the
Thong Show…

29.08.2004

Fire drill

The diversity of yesterday’s information
can hardly be surpassed - today’s input is, accordingly, less. 10:00
am fire drill, what a highlight. The boys have practiced that already during
their first passage. Did they remember how
to do it???

28.08.2004

Activities on the “Independent
Action”

Today’s transfer of the legendary Bernd-reports
shows only the daily schedule on the ship. The only personal activities
are 1.5 hrs sports daily. Well, then: Ready,
set, go!!!

27.08.2004

Time to say goodbye...

After 6,800km across North American highways
the target was reached. The van was cleared out and handed over. Good-bye,
America! Now it was time for the ship. The "Independent
Action"...

26.08.2004

Frisky buddies in Atlantic City

What Las Vegas is for the American West,
is Atlantic City for the East. A paradise for gamblers! Giant amusement
arcades as far as the eye can see, with an unbelievable amount of noise.
The guys tried their luck as well
…

25.08.2004

In the center of political power
of the US ...

... or in the axis of evil? Flemme drives
into the capital of the US. George W. wasn’t there, he was currently
in NYC letting himself be honored as hero. What luck, the boys could keep
traveling to Maryland….

24.08.2004

5,555.5 km on the road in the
States

How the buddies managed to convert the pedometer
from miles to km is unclear. At least, according to Bernd’s legendary
report’s of the day, they reached the magic number of 5,555.5 km in
North America...

23.08.2004

Profound confusion in Tennessee!

If one believes in the advertising –
in Tennessee the time stands still. Old gentlemen bootleg whiskey and store
it in wodden barrels for years. But: This is JACK DANIELS! This isn’t
„Jim
Beam“...

22.08.2004

„Sweet Home Alabama...“

.. or „Resi. I hol die mitn Traktor
ab“. Which of these classics of rock history do we sing today? The
desicion is easy. The compagions arrive in Alabama today. Let`s go: Big
wheels keep on turning....

21.08.2004

The companions arrive in Jena...

Is the journey round the world finished?
The arrival in Jena was plannes for the 07.09.! Were the 80 days cancelled
because of home sickness? But no, Jena is in this case not in Thuringia
but in
Louisiana...

20.08.2004

„See you later, alligator...“

The companions mutated into „Swampers“.
They discovered new pets. How sweet... But there was „Moon over Bourbon
street“, again. This title from Sting sounds contemplative. The real
live at this very street is different...

19.08.2004

The companions get accommodation
in the French Quarter

It couldn’t have been any different.
Till the evening the boys were driving, and this morning Gunnar takes over
the wheel of the van. In the evening he arrived in New Orleans. There the
boys found an accommodation in the
French Quarter…

18.08.2004

Sensational: “Machine”
takes over the wheel!

Every day another companion takes over. Today
is O.F.s turn.
He already had withdrawal symptoms, because he dashed past San Antonio and
Houston. They took a break at Galveston, where the street finishes and the
ocean begins…

17.08.2004

Rain camp in Texas

After the guys met the bike-police in El
Paso, they crossed New Mexico. The goal was the home of George W. Bush (who
is in a mud slinging match at the moment …) How adequate: Rain
in Texas….

16.08.2004

Film history: The magnificent
seven...

...said good-bye to Sahib Schnirps and experienced
then everything that belongs to a classical western: cactuses, the western
town Tombstone, a saloon and the Winchester. To make the picture round,
they escaped on
foot to Mexico…

15.08.2004

Bowling for Columbine? No, bowling
in Arizona...

After a long time without a car we eventually
enter a van again. In Los Angeles. And onto Phoenix/AZ. There we met Klaus,
were abducted to an Irish pub and afterwards to a bowling
center …

14.08.2004

Finally, land under our feet
again!

Now the time had come! Finally, the guys
were allowed to go into the harbor and they were even allowed to enter the
States! "California
dreaming" was the motto of the day ... For some at the beach, for
others at the Universal Studios…

13.08.2004

California is so close but yet
so far…

After they couldn’t make it yesterday,
getting into the harbor was rescheduled for today. But again, it was impossible,
the ship had to stay anchored on the open sea. Flemme was happy since he
could fish…

12.08.2004

Landing in New Beach adjourned...

The landing in North America, more specifically California
was planned for today. The land was in sight, too. Nevertheless, the companions
didn`t get a landing permission. The container harbor was overcrowded. Again
time for a fashion
parade...

11.08.2004

ALAAAAAARM!!!!

Everything was fun so far but, today it was
getting serious. The companions were pulled out of their routine. In the
end, it was only a rescue
practise...

10.08.2004

Fashion show on the container
ship

Because of no other activities (besides the
daily table tennis competition) the companions had a fashion show today…
and so they thank their diverse shirt
sponsors…

Seafaring is fun, , seafaring is beautiful...
But these can get out of head. As today. Because sport was in the program.
And the boys agonized themselves in the exercise
room of the “MS Pugwash Senator”…

07.08.2004

And daily the chuck salutes...

Quaint. Since their start in Jena the companions
were ahead of the central European Time bit by bit . Hence they are afterwards.
How does
that go?

06.08.2004

Instructing the officers...

The companions got to know the ship. Also Osaka. As well
as Tokyo. In the evening they barbecoued. What to do in the following hours?
The boys have got to instruct the
officers of the ship

05.08.2004

Barbecue evening between trailers!

In some (the football club Carl Zeiss Jena)
loved members of the tour it is still sceptical if Erfurt belongs to Thuringia
or not. Today it is irrelevant, because the captain of the ship, who comes
from Erfurt(!), invited them to a barbecue
evening….

04.08.2004

Amazing: Buddies meet a shovelhead
shark!

The only entry in the already legendary Bernd’s
report of the day is: 16:20 – Shovelhead shark discovered in front
of the bow! Now it becomes a media star and is mentioned here. Hey, shovelhead,
descent and find
Nemo...

03.08.2004

Buddies in Tokyo...

Shore leave again? The w80 team seems to
behave quite well! So, they got the opportunity for a short visit of the
Japanese capital Tokyo. How many containers they had this time, we don’t
know…

02.08.2004

Buddies in Osaka!

Today the guys got shore leave. While 450
containers were being unloaded, they visited Osaka and the Hard
Rock Cafe.... But Ulla was at home again. And his report helps us to
get over a dry spell (Sorry, only in german...)!

01.08.2004

Still: On high seas....

It’s really exciting! Exactly like
in the books that we read when we all were little boys... The last mail
from the guys was from August 1st and the only content was the
position of the ship:
Latitude: 29° 00.1`North, Longitude: 127° 11.1`East...

31.07.2004

On the high seas ....

Along with 4,500 containers, the guys went
to sea yesterday. Today was interesting, just because of the ship inspection
that took two hours. The ship needs 67 tons of diesel. Per day! Not only
O.F. was
surprised...

30.07.2004

Perfect landing in Hong Kong
…

The ship was actually scheduled to leave
Hong Kong two days later. But the boys had been in contact with the agency
of the shipping company for some days and knew that they were running out
of time. But they reached a perfect
landing ...

29.07.2004

On the Lijang...

Again on sight-seeing tour ... With a boat
on the river Lijang.... Again with a local guide with whom we visit an old
Chinese village. Then we go to the metropolis Hong Kong. What a contrast
...

28.07.2004

Buddies reach Guilin ...

We sing: „Nine buddies without a double
bass, went through China and talked a bit, ...“ But then it got boring.
And then, luckily, they arrived in Guilin and met real Chinese people, but
with a guitar...

27.07.2004

w80 team says goodbye to Hanoi
…

And yet another goodbye. This time from the
Vietnamese capital Hanoi. Then it was time: “Toot, toot, toot, the
train is leaving. Who wants to go to
China with me?” Well, everybody wanted to take part in that.

26.07.2004

w80 team says goodbye to Hai
Ho…

Hai Ho has many meanings. Even the seven
dwarf from snow-white sing “Hai Ho, Hai Ho…” In this case
Hai Ho was the “Island
travel guide”. He know the region and even the boys…

25.07.2004

Continue the world trip by bike?

Well, it wasn’t quite like that. It
was supposed to be a quiet bike tour, but it didn’t quite work out
that way…Steep mountains without any water made it quite difficult
for the boys! They didn’t have anything left, because the
kids in the mountains took everything…

24.07.2004

The boys become millionaires

In Hanoi we changed money to get the tickets
for the train. Because of that the boys become millionaires. To get full
advantage of that the boys went on a trip to the
3000 island…

23.07.2004

Journey back into the past,

that’s how the w80team felt when crossing
the border to Vietnam. Awkward customs inspection, for the first time, all
members had to show the complete content of their backpacks. Then all of
them needed some
booze…

22.07.2004

Onto Vietnam!

At first, the buddies start again with a
mini bus. That’s already habit…. They had no breakfast. That’s
not habit …. Then a flat tire! That’s habit again….But
then, they see something totally unexpected
…

21.07.2004

On the river Mekong...

The guys go by boat now. Perfect scenery
along the river. Sometimes, the trip is a bit dangerous, but the guys are
prepared…. Finally, they get in contact with
the locals…

20.07.2004

With a mini bus to the river
Mekong...

the buddies go all day long. Terrific scenery
with mountains and steep serpentines, but in the afternoon it’s done.
Arrival at the wonderful place Luang Prabang at the river Mekong…

19.07.2004

w80 Team arrived in Laos!

This time by bus. The trip went on by mini
bus. But nevertheless, the buddies crossed the border and got via Vientianne
to Vang Vieng. There, the program was: having a shower, dinner and a discussion…

18.07.2004

The buddies relax in Bangkok
…

...of the exhausting flight? Sightseeing
of the old culture is scheduled for today as well as a boat trip. Flemme
regrets having no fishing rod. Gunnar meets an old colleague. In the evening,
start to Laos
…

17.07.2004

Flier, say Hi to the sun ...

The buddies had fought so bravely. Only military
pressure could make them take a plane from Imphal to Calcutta. But obviously
they liked it a lot, since they take another plane getting to
Bangkok.

16.07.2004

w80 team banished from “ghost
town” Imphal

Imphal could be reached, but the military
had imposed a curfew. Although in distance of only 100km from the Burman
border now, the guys are barred from the continuation of their journey.
And finally flown out. The goal Myanmar is
over now…

15.07.2004

Dramatical: World travelers
on foot through the mud!

The buddies get to the border to Manipur,
but the disaster starts… First of all, the driver gives up, O.F. takes
over and qualifies for Paris-Dakar. But then the street had been vanished
totally by several landslides. The trip is continued on
foot...

14.07.2004

The boys sink in the floods…

It’s going forward, but not as planned.
The boys rented a Jeep with Chauffeur and drove towards Myanmar. Two wheels
burst, O.F. fixed everything…

13.07.2004

Stuck in Guwahati…

The trip on the train was not very exciting,
but at least we got somewhere…That’s not the case anymore. The
boys are stuck in Guwahati. At least the use the time to check out the region…

12.07.2004

The over 40 hour long train
trip is over…

Well, it was quite enough. After never ending
rounds of “Doppelkopf” the boys got off the train in Kuwahati. There were
no massages today, but one CD broke…

11.07.2004

The boys on the train

The amount of the pictures and the length
of the report made me suggest, that the day wasn’t really thrilling…
But at least they had zwieback, „Doppelkopf“ and head
massages…

10.07.2004

Welcoming Schnirps and going
to Taj Mahal

Today was one sight seeing after another.
First we picked up Schnirps from the airport and he was warmly welcomed.
Then we went right on. With a rented bus to an emblem of India, to the Taj
Mahal…

09.07.2004

The second (organisation-) day
in Delhi

Today the organisation of certain papers
and tickets was the topic. Quite a stressing task, usually things like that
take at least 2 weeks, but the boys made the impossible
possible…

08.07.2004

The first day in Delhi

After a stressing trip on the bus the boys
finally made it to Delhi. It took quite a while, because the bus made his
way through the country by beeping all the time, strange, strange…
But in Delhi they met their Swedish friends again and so the day had a good
end…

07.07.2004

The buddies reach India!

Finally, they made it. The w80 team reached
India! Via land!!! In the early afternoon, they arrive in the first Indian
town, Amritsar. After a short rest, they keep going. With a public-transit
bus to Delhi…

06.07.2004

In Lahore...

The travel group „Schenderlein“
is welcomed at the train station by Horst’s Pakistani business partners.
They get a complete “package”, sight-seeing tour, meals, …
The summary
of the day …

05.07.2004

Let’s go to Lahore!

The boys are retesting the Pakistani railroad
network. They are going across the country. Now they are going from Karachi
to Lahore. Some pictures, Gunnar’s diary and Bernd’s report
of the day here…

04.07.2004

In Karachi, at the Indian Ocean…

… they have a good time with beer,
mango and camels, instead of thinking about their time plan. Holgi is already
getting ready to celebrate… But there was also some sightseeing and
a few hours later than in Europe the boys watched the EM
final…

03.07.2004

03.07.2004 Train run to Karachi

The w80 team on the train run from Quetta
to Karachi. On their way they are going through the hottest area of Asia.
At the same time Uwje left his office of the w80 team and went to the festival
in Rudolstadt with his family. He was caught doing that…This and a
lot more here…

02.07.2004

Through the heat of Pakistan

…the boys are fighting through the
heat of Pakistan! With a rented Van, including a chauffeur, they are driving
through the desert at 45°C degrees.
In Germany we are still waiting for the summer, but the boys are sweating
quite a lot! Read more...

01.07.2004

Saying goodbye to ”Machine’s”
machine…

Now it was time. The people who have read
the past articles should be well informed about the fact, that O.F. donated
the Ford “Transit”. Since Belgrade, he got his nickname “Machine”.
But now it was time to say goodbye to “Machine’s”
machine…

30.06.2004

Breakfast in Teheran, lunch
in Esfahan and dinner in Yazd…

…the w80 team is pushing it. The lost
time from the Iranian border has to be caught up. The breakfast was kind
of disgusting, but the daily goal was reached! The day was very successful!
Also because there was a sensation
on our website…

29.06.2004

29.06.2004 Every party has an
end…

…even if it is after 30 hours! After
never ending hours they finally got started and moved on. The time plan
is really messed up. To catch up with the time they have to drive all night
long…

28.06.2004

Standing-up party on the border
to Iran…

Even in despite of the mountains, the boys
made it to the Turkish-Iranian border at about 10:00 a.m. They are still
on time. But that’s it for the day, because from there it didn’t
go any further and the w80 team slept in a mosque
room...

27.06.2004

Through the wild Kurdistan...

The machine O.F. agonises through the wild
Kurdistan with his machine. The car shows first single problems during the
aggrandisement onto 2100m. But besides that the landscape is wildly romantic
and there are many military controls. The w80 team reaches Hakkari and gives
the town the new name Harakiri. more…

26.06.2004

Zwerg’s birthday with
tons of mutton…

…and wine close to the Kurdish border.
On the 25th the celebrations started, not at the Dead Sea, but in Palmyra
and they went on till sunrise. That was told over the phone, for now I don’t
know more…

25.06.2004

4000km almost 1/10 of the tour
is done…

The boys called again. At about 10:00 a.m.
they leave Aleppo (after a cup of coffee) towards Palmyra/Syria. There,
they want to get ready to celebrate Zwerg’s 40th birthday…more…

24.06.2004

The guys are in Aleppo/Syria

Today the boys called from Syria! They had
first contact to local people. They were really friendly and thought their
idea of the trip around the world was sensational…more…

23.06.2004

The boys leave Europe

The communication gets better. Finally Gunnar
sent some pictures. So far I don’t have any reports, but it’s
a start…So here the first pics
from the w80 team outside of Europe…

22.06.2004

Globetrotter just before Ankara,
can’t watch soccer…

…but aren’t sad! Around 10:00 p.m. I talked
to Horst on the phone, right then they were 87km away from Ankara…
Before that they stayed a while in Istanbul.
There they used the time till noon for data transfer to Germany

21.06.2004

Cantaloupe in Bulgaria, beer
in Istanbul...

Tonight the guys called me. They sat in a
bar in Istanbul, watched the England game and were already drunk when I
talked to them... For Breakfast they got yummy cantaloupe...

20.06.2004

Through the Balkans…

The guys are pushing it…especially
O.F.
So he got an honour name
The hop ended right before Sofia!
See more...

19.06.2004

The boys leave Thuringia and
Germany….

The boys crossed the city limit of Jena at
about 12:40 p.m. On the dashboard a cake with an arrow “Jena 42,714.1km”
on it, so they have quite a bit to go before they will be back here. Read
more...

19.06.2004

12:00 p.m. start of the trip
around the world

Well it was 12:15 p.m. when the eight buddies,
surrounded by hundreds of people, were brought to their car. The mayor held
the farewell speech. Already at the beginning 15 minutes late…but
still a perfect start. More
here…

18.06.2004

Jena, farewell party, club house
of the „Ernst Abbe“ stadium

Today was the Going-away Party of the globetrotter
in the soccer clubhouse of the
Ernst-Abbe-Stadium. Start was at 8:00 p.m. Invited where family members,
buddies, friends, sponsors and others interested people. more...

13.06.2004

Revision of the
online texts www.w80.de

Last preparations in the
internet.. We go on working on our online version. Especially in the English
version there may be some problems. Dear Simone, Thank you for translation!!!

02.04.2004

Jena, Lobecenter, Flea Market
by night

Today we got some money for our journey.
Every kind of old junk was sold by the members of our team. ( More information
in the “ Allgemeiner Anzeiger Jena”, sorry, printed in German...)

04/2004

Berlin, Embassy of Myanmar

On 1stApril the ambassador of Myanmar gave
his special permission for passing throug. This was sealed by hand and is
an exception, which is only given to a couple od people.

03/2004

Wöllnitz, "Schöne
Aussicht", meeting for preparations

Photos
of 26th March2004.
The preparations are at full speed. No more prospects only- the last details
are on the plan.

11/2003

Jena, Ali Alster’s Pub

From now on every Tuesday
evening- meetings to discuss important things.

10/2003

Jannismühle/ Zeitzgrund,
2nd weekend for planning

Reporting and analysis
of the different tasks. Rendering of the route more precisely and laying
down of the equipment.

03/2003

Dessau, 1st weekend for planning

40 hours in the world wide
web, evaluation of ferry connections, ships eg. Lots of phone calls, some
bottles of beer and the sharing of the different tasks

05/1999

Jena, Ali Alster’s Pub

The planning gets detailed. Everyone, who
wants to take part, has to pay some money monthly. ( no matter whether he
will be able to take part in fact) So we got a team very quickly.

1998

Berlin, Return journey from
a rock concert

We remember the idea
from 1989. The fantasy arises to make a rally around the world in groups
of two. Jules Verne’s classic from 1872 gives us the first imagination
of a route. Only a little bit later we change the idea. If we go, then
we’ll go all together.

The 40th anniversary of the GDR. We decided
to go on a world wide trip with or without the permission of Erich Honecker.
A festive occation could be our own 40th “anniversary”. Most
of our group were born in 1964. ( So it should happen in 2004.)